


With These Broken Wings I'm Falling

by RobinsonsWereHere



Series: I Swear to Love You All My Life [4]
Category: Psych
Genre: Angst, F/M, Future Fic, It's gonna get worse before it gets better, Kidnapping, Nightmares, Panic Attacks, Protective Lassie, eidetic memories and traumas don't mix, juliet isn't much better, married shules, shawn is freaking out, the spencer family is a complicated mess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-03
Updated: 2019-06-03
Packaged: 2020-01-04 06:00:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18337601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RobinsonsWereHere/pseuds/RobinsonsWereHere
Summary: There's been a rash of kidnappings in Santa Barbara: all minors, taken from family homes, most of the time when their parents were gone.Juliet Spencer knows this. She has talked to the parents of the victims. She promises herself and her husband that their children will not be next. (It's not enough.)Another funny thing about the previous kidnappings?Everyone who'd been kidnapped had turned up dead.





	1. I Scream For You (Hurry, I'm Falling)

Jake is slicing celery for a salad, not because any of them want salad, but because they’d arrived home to a note on the fridge in his mother’s handwriting that read only, ‘MAKE SALAD’ in green marker, underlined several times. Apparently their usual choices of frozen burritos is not a ‘healthy option’.

Zoe is not trusted with knives and has already finished making mac n cheese (with the help of her grandmother) so she spins lazily on a stool. Between bugging Jake and watching Rory and Leo competitively solve Rubik’s cubes, Jake is more interesting. “You ever play that game where you try to stab in between your fingers as fast as possible?” 

Jake gives her an unamused look. “This is why you’re not allowed to use knives.” She sticks her tongue out at him.

“Zoe, stop annoying your brother,” Maddie calls.

“But I’m _bored,”_ the twelve-year-old complains, drawing out the last word.

“Well, do you have homework?”

“It’s Friday!”

“Do you?”

Zoe rolls her eyes. “Grandma, I’d rather do the counting hats thing Grampo makes me do than _homework.”_

“Alright then.” Maddie holds out her hand and Zoe hops down, following her to the dining room table though she’s confused as to why. “What’s on the coffee table?” Maddie asks once they’re sitting.

Zoe frowns. “I… don’t know.”

“Alright,” her grandmother says patiently. “Turn around and look for thirty seconds. I’ll count.” Zoe smiles and does so, looking carefully at everything. Then she turns back, ready to rattle it all off, but Maddie holds up a hand. “I want you to hold the picture in your mind for a bit,” she says. “Focus on the small things you might not have seen the first time around.” Zoe nods and closes her eyes, but she gets distracted when a knock comes at the door. For some reason, it makes her uneasy. She hears Maddie’s chair scrape back and frowns. 

“Please don’t answer that.” The knocking becomes more insistent.

“Why?”

“I don’t know…” Zoe slips into her Han Solo voice almost without realizing she’s done it. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.” _Dad would be proud._ She tries to focus on the source of the bad feeling, but before she can pin it down, the door bangs open with a crash. The pit in her stomach grows into an icy storm of fear; those doors are fastened with locks that cannot be easily broken. She opens her eyes to see her grandmother standing with her hands on her hips, facing several huge, armed men.

“What do you want?” Maddie demands calmly. Zoe sees Rory and Leo creeping toward the kitchen and tries to wave them back, but this motion catches the eye of the tallest man, who grins.

“We want them.”

“Not going to happen.”

He sneers. “You think you’ll stop us?”

Madeline’s hand curls into a fist. “I intend to.”

He paces forward, shoving her brutally to the ground. Maddie gets back up and socks him in the jaw. Another man comes to the first one’s aid, and she slams him into a wall, before knocking him over the head with a toaster. He crumples, but another man bashes the butt of his (worryingly large) gun into her skull. Zoe screams and tries to hurl herself at one of them, but Jake apprehends her. “Zoe, no!” He yells, grabbing her by the arm. He is still holding the knife and he stabs that into the upper arm of one of the assailants. It is a valiant effort, but he can’t hold Zoe back, shield Rory and Leo, and fight eight men all at once.

One man who is almost three times her size grabs Zoe, nearly suffocating her with one meaty arm. He smells too strongly of sweat and metal and smoke. She has tears in her eyes but she does not cry. She only glares angrily as her brothers, too, are grabbed by uncaring, brutish men. By the time the four of them are deposited into the back of a van, she has been choked into unconsciousness.

########

Shawn is trying to get Jules to go home using a multi-pronged technique involving shoulder massaging, light, distracting kisses, and flat out sitting on her desk to keep her from trying to do more paperwork. It’s not working very well. “You’re like a cat, Shawn,” she sighs, hauling him off of her desk by his t-shirt.

This puts him between her knees, her hands still at his chest. Shawn doesn’t miss a beat. “At least take me out to dinner first.”

She rolls her eyes. “Shawn, we’re _married.”_ He has a response to that, but he gets distracted by his dad talking loudly on the phone.

“Maddie, calm down,” Henry says. “Take a deep breath. What’s going on?”

Shawn frowns, pacing slowly towards his dad. Jules goes back to her case file, not noticing the conversation. Henry continues. “Are you okay?” A few more seconds and then, “Maddie. I can help you faster than we can find them. _Are you okay?”_ Shawn’s brain chooses this moment to unhelpfully remind him that the reason his wife is so determined to stay late and keep working is because there’s been a streak of kidnappings lately. _You’re only hearing half the conversation. They’re fine. They’ve got to be fine._ He shuts his eyes and takes a deep breath, and when he looks up, Henry is beckoning him towards the Chief’s office. He follows, but Henry gestures for him to get Jules and Lassie.

“Jules, c’mere for a sec,” he calls.

“No.” 

“My dad needs us in the Chief’s office.”

She looks up, eyes narrowed. After ascertaining that yes, Henry is in Karen’s office, she stands. “Carlton, come on.”

Shawn wakes Gus, who is dozing on a bench. The four of them follow Henry into the Chief’s office, where he places the phone on Karen’s desk. She looks a bit baffled. “There’s been another kidnapping,” he says. And then, “Maddie, you’re on speaker. Tell them what you told me.” Shawn hears Juliet’s sharp intake of breath from her spot next to him.

_While we were making dinner, someone came knocking at the door,”_ Maddie starts. _”Zoe said I shouldn’t answer it, because she had a bad feeling about it. I was willing to wait for her to follow her train of thought- let her work on information processing and understanding her senses, you know- but they broke the door down before we could get any further. I- I tried to hold them off, but one of them knocked me over the head._ Her shaky intake of breath is audible even over the phone. _”I think- based on the clock, I think that was about an hour ago. I’m sorry.”_

“It’s not your fault, Mom,” Shawn says hollowly. “Are you alright?”

_“I’m just a little sore, Goose. Don’t worry about me.”_

“We’ll get a CSI unit over there as soon as possible, Dr. Spencer. Try to stay calm, and maybe put some ice on your head,” Karen directs. Maddie agrees, and Henry ends the call.

Shawn is the first to move, letting out a rattling sigh as he runs his hands through his hair. This sets off a chain reaction.

Lassie slams a fist on the desk. “I can’t _believe_ this.” Karen gives him a look.

Gus looks to Shawn for encouragement, which Shawn cannot give. Henry flops into a chair, looking gaunt. Shawn reaches for Juliet’s hand only to find she has balled them into fists. Her face has gone stony, and her eyes are hard ice. When she speaks, it’s only a single growled syllable.

_”Fuck.”_


	2. Let Me Take Your Hand (I'll Make It Right)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shawn needs someone to hold onto. Juliet is pulling away. Rory, Leo, Zoe, and Jake are running out of time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here, have this chapter before I go camping! I'll be back Sunday, probably with another chapter of "It All Happens For a Reason".

_Several Months Earlier_

_June is sweltering in Santa Barbara, with the sun burning relentlessly over the city. By four in the afternoon, Shawn and Gus have discovered that it’s really hard to keep four kids entertained for an entire day. So, they go for ice cream. Shawn even lets them get waffle cones, because it’s at least two hours until dinner, so it’s not like they won’t be hungry later. This results in almost five minutes of calm, the six of them lapping at their cones. Then Leo, his face coated in sticky blue birthday cake ice cream, speaks up. “Dad, it’s hoooooot,” he whines. Jake is almost fourteen and is too mature to whine, but he gives a dramatic sigh of agreement, managing to look put-upon even as he devours a strawberry cone. Shawn cocks his head to the side, thinking._

_“Alright, then,” he begins, “I spy, with my little eye, a place we can go that has air conditioning.”_

_Jake closes his eyes, though if he’s thinking or slowly melting, Shawn isn’t sure. The twins’ gazes begin to sweep the street, and in contrast, Zoe’s stare focuses on him. “The taco stand has AC, but it’s broken; the fan isn’t spinning,” Rory says._

_“The library has AC, but you’re not allowed to take food in there,” adds Leo._

_“You’re both right,” Zoe tells her brothers, “but that’s not what Dad’s thinking. He’s looking over there.” She points to a familiar white building with a spanish-style roof._

_“The police station!” The twins jump up and take off down the sidewalk, but Gus and Shawn each grab one._

_“Slow down, guys, you’ll spill your ice cream,” Shawn warns. He grins and climbs up on the low wall. “Follow the leader! Let’s go see mom!”_

_This statement is met with a chorus of cheers, and the six of them all set off down the wall._

|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

Present Day

Rory Spencer sits very, very still. He doesn’t thrash around like Jake or spit curses like Zoe or crack jokes like Leo. He sits still because the less he moves, the less noise he makes, the less attention he draws to himself, the safer he is. All he has to do is stay safe and soon, his parents will get here. His mother will burst down the door and his father will be dramatic and distracting and everything will be okay. Rory shuts his eyes and remembers everything Grampo and Uncle Lassie have taught him. _Don’t antagonize, stay awake, try to leave clues._ Rory tries to pick out details of the room they’re in, but it’s too dark and his siblings are distracting. “Is there a bathroom around here?” Leo asks.

“Shaddup,” snarls one of the three men guarding them.

“I mean, okay, but we didn’t take any bathroom breaks on the way over here, and that was a pretty long time shut in the van…”

Rory finds twin stereotypes stupid ordinarily, but right now, he’d give just about anything to be able to telepathically tell his brother to shut it. “I’d hate to cause any trouble,” Leo continues, “but I just think it would be unpleasant for all of us if this got messy-”

A fourth man enters and chucks a bucket across the room. How they’re supposed to use the bucket when they’re tied up and duct taped and supported only by each other and a cold concrete wall, Rory doesn’t know. Apparently Leo doesn’t either, because he stays still. The new man is conversing with the first three, and Rory can’t make out all of their words. “They need proof if we want money,” is all he gets. Then the tall man holds up what might be a phone; it’s too dark to see. “Say cheese,” he growls. A bright light flashes and Rory is left near-blind, unable to do anything but sit and hope his parents will come.

|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

Shawn sits on an empty desk, eyes roving over a case board. Behind him, Jules and Lassie are talking through details. “Alright, what locations do we know already?” Jules asks nobody in particular. “The park, the alley off Aero road, the marsh near Carob harbor…”

“All of those were body dumps,” Lassie points out. Shawn winces.

“Lassie, cool it, will you?”

“He’s right, Shawn,” Juliet says, before her partner can retort. “They’re all remote locations, probably chosen for ease of access and low probability of being caught. We should start with possible locations that are relatively close to the dump areas- we’re not looking at any sort of human trafficking deal, these are just heartless bastards who want some ransom money-”

“That’s it!” Shawn leaps off the desk, causing Jules to whip around to face him and Lassie to almost drop his coffee. “There’s always a ransom, but we haven’t seen anything yet- Jules, gimme your computer.” He reaches for it without waiting for an answer, and then pulls up his email in a new window. Sure enough, there’s a new email from a censored source. He opens it- to the dismay of the detectives behind him- (he doesn’t need their sharp, sucking, breaths, he can already hear his dad’s voice in his head berating him for possibly downloading a virus).

Just as he’d expected, four familiar faces stare back at him. Jake is glaring into the camera, or rather, half glaring, half squinting. A reddish-purple bruise that is clearly a fist mark marrs his left cheekbone. Zoe, too, is giving the camera an angry stare, but nothing below her nose is discernible, due to a swath of duct tape over her mouth. Rory looks startled, like a deer in headlights, and though he is the only clearly uninjured child in the photo, the dismay and confusion on his face hurts Shawn all the more because Rory has always been the quietest, the fastest, the most willing to crawl into his parents’ arms for comfort, but they are not there to comfort him now. Leo is grinning a grin he can only have learned from Shawn himself. From the shiner ringing his right eye, he’s taken his father’s route when it comes to dealing with sticky situations.

Shawn stares, frozen, at the computer screen, not even bothering to read the ransom demand. He knows, in some cold pace in his chest, that his father, the lifelong cop, and his wife, the dedicated detective, will never pay the money, and frankly, he doesn’t want to either. He’s seen too many cases where the kidnappers took the ransom money and killed their victims regardless.

The psychic is drawn out of his thoughts by a noise of frustration from his wife. “Get the computer techs on this,” she says tightly, stalking down the hall. Shawn frowns.

Even Lassie can tell something is amiss. “O’Hara?” he calls after her retreating form.

“I’ve been married for fourteen years, Carlton,” she retorts.

Shawn runs a hand through his hair and sighs shakily. “Jules,” he says, starting after her. “Hey, Jules, c’mere, babe.” She doesn’t listen.

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

Juliet heads for the filing hall to be alone; the problem is, this is also the best place for Shawn to corner her into a conversation. “Jules,” he says, voice soft, eyes worried. She winces and doesn’t meet his gaze. “Jules, hey. It’s alright.”

“It’s not alright, Shawn!” she snaps.

“I know, I know, but we’re going to find them, yeah? We’re gonna work together. You don’t have to do it all yourself.”

“Shawn-” Juliet chokes on her words and has to close her eyes for a bit, willing away the tears that want to fall. The reality is, they don’t know that they’ll find their children before it’s too late. They don’t even know if they’re alive right now. The detective shakes herself, stopping that train of thought. “Shawn, I can’t do this right now. If I stop- if I stop and think about it, I won’t be able to- I’ll freeze, I’ll lose it. Just let me do my job, please,” she asks quietly.

Shawn nods, still staring at her with his hazel eyes that she swears can see into her soul. “Jules?”

“Yeah?”

He takes her hand and presses his lips to her knuckles. “I love you.”

She smiles softly and steps closer to kiss his cheek. “Love you too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> rAnSoM dEmAnDs


	3. Couldn't Utter My Love When it Counted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Juliet is rapidly losing control of the situation. She is a detective and a mother and yet somehow, she feels as though she's failing at both.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was gonna go up yesterday but I realized I'm gonna be working on stuff that won't immediately be posted for the next week or so and I decided I'd space it out. See y'all Saturday, probably!

_One Year Previously_

_Juliet grabs blindly at her coffee mug as she reads through the paper. Normally she tries to engage with her family during breakfast, but this particular news story has quite a few details it shouldn’t have about a case she’s working and she’d really like to know how they got them. Still, she’s multitasking at least a bit, and she does hear the fridge open. “Rory, I know you’re not in there drinking orange juice straight from the bottle,” she warns._

_”Mom, I’m right here,” says the child in question._

_”Oops, sorry.” A quick scan of the dining room proves that all three of her sons are indeed at the table with her, and she can hear Zoe singing in the next room over as she packs her bag. Juliet narrows her eyes. “Shawn Spencer! You are a grown-ass man!”_

_The love of her life appears in the doorway. “It’s almost empty,” he says defensively, holding a bottle that’s at least a third full. She raises an eyebrow. He has the decency to look sheepish. “I’m making waffles?” he tries._

_This statement gets a stampede of children into the kitchen. Juliet just smiles as she walks over to her husband and wraps her arms around him. “Well then, I guess you can be forgiven.” With a wink, she takes the bottle from his hand and takes a swig of it herself._

|||||||||||||||||||||||||||

Present Day

Shawn frowns as he spots his wife, who is hunched over several files and looking between them and a computer screen. She looks exhausted and miserable, and sure enough, when he comes around the corner, he can see that her computer isn’t actually showing useful case information but only the ransom photo. He walks up to her and tugs the plug from her monitor.

“Hey!”

“Have a waffle.” He hands her the toaster waffle he’s been carrying wrapped in a napkin.

“Shawn, I’m busy-”

“Not too busy to eat. You need food, Jules.”

She takes the waffle and takes a bite out of it. “I don’t know what to do,” she admits quietly.

Shawn reaches carefully for her, and when she doesn’t pull away, he takes her hand in his and rubs circles with his thumb. He would love to run his fingers through her hair and kiss her head, but she’s wearing her hair in a bun today. “You know exactly what to do,” he reminds her. “You’ve been through the police academy. You’re trained for this.”

“That’s just it,” she argues. “I know what I _should_ do, I know what I’ve been _trained_ to do, but… part of me just wants to pay the money and get them back.”

Shawn sighs. “I know, Jules. I do too. But we both know that won’t work.” His wife grumbles unintelligibly and flips through a few crime scene photos. He groans. “Jules, baby, look at me.” She does, and the sadness and desperation in her lovely blue eyes makes it physically difficult for him to breathe. “We’re gonna save them,” he promises. “Give me some time to figure a few things out. I’ll come back soon and we’ll have more to work with. Just keep doing things your way.”

Juliet nods, taking a breath. “Alright. Be careful, Shawn. Text before you go anywhere dangerous.”

“I will.”

She pulls him in for a kiss and he gives an almost happy sigh. “I love you.”

“Love you too.”

|||||||||||||||||||||||||||

Jake struggles against the rough ropes binding him as one of the men slaps Leo across the face. “Leave him alone!” he yells. 

“We told him to shut it, but he’s still talking,” sneers the thug closest to Jake. “Just ‘cause we can’t kill you ‘til we get the money doesn’t mean we can’t teach you a lesson.”

Jake glares and next to him, Zoe struggles, making noise against the duct tape gag. “Don’t hurt them,” Jake says, trying to make his voice go all quiet and icy like his mother’s does when she’s _really_ mad.

One of the men, the one who’s tossing and catching knives, chuckles. “Babysitting duty is quite boring,” he says, with an accent that might be German. “We must entertain ourselves somehow.” He leans over Zoe, tracing a thin line across her cheek with the knife; this leaves a trail of blood. “If all we do is sit here, the money is hardly worth it.”

Jake continues to glare angrily until tears blur his vision and begin to fall.

|||||||||||||||||||||||||

Shawn grips the bar of the scaffolding tighter with one arm and leans further out, holding his camera in his free hand. He snaps a few pictures, making sure to get the license plates of the vans parked outside the warehouse. At this time of day, one would expect a warehouse that’s in use to be very busy, with workers coming and going, clocking out or arriving for the night shift. And this one, supposedly, was rented at the start of the previous week and will be used until the end of next week. Regardless, the only signs of life are the two vans parked by the curb.

“Shawn, are you coming down soon?” calls Gus from below him.

“Just a sec, buddy!”

“Be careful… you’re hanging pretty far out…”

“Yeah? Watch this!” Against his better judgement, which is really just a voice in his head that sounds a little like Jules and a little like his dad, Shawn leaps for the roof of the canvas ragtop beneath him. Gus screams. Shawn rolls off of the car, ignoring the throbbing pain in his ankle. “Ta-da!”

“Shawn, you’re a dumbass.”

“No, I’m not, Gus, you know why?”

Gus’ face is stony and his voice is flat. “Why.”

“Because instead of storming into that building over there, I’m gonna look up the lease information and then show what I find to my lovely wife.”

“Y’know, at this point I think Juliet would support the storming of the building.”

“Oh, absolutely, but if she’s not a part of it, she’ll kill me. Let’s go.”

“Let’s.”

||||||||||||||||||||||||||

Juliet holsters her pistol and straps on a bulletproof vest, stuffing a first aid kit into her backpack of tactical gear. “You’re sure about this?”

Shawn takes a shaky breath. “I have to be.”

Juliet wants to offer encouragement, but at the moment it’s all she can do to keep going through the motions herself. She twists her wedding ring on her finger. “Your bike is out back?”

“Yeah. You have the radios to call for backup when we’re done?”

“Uh-huh. You didn’t tell Gus where we were going, right?”

“I lied about going to get takeout. You left the note for Lassie?”

“On my desk.”

“Alright, then. Here goes nothing.” Shawn smiles at her through the darkness of the armory. “Kiss for good luck?”

Juliet kisses him like she might not get the chance again- mostly because, well, she might not get the chance again.

|||||||||||||||||||||||||

Gus’ worried frown grows as he fails to find Shawn or Juliet in the bullpen. Henry, Maddie, and the chief are talking quietly near a bench, so he walks up to them. “Uh, have any of you seen Shawn? He was supposed to get food but I know he was lying to me because the restaurant he mentioned closes at five and it’s nine now.”

The chief’s brow furrows. Maddie shakes her head. “What’s he done now?” Henry asks.

Before Gus can explain that he really doesn’t know, Lassiter appears, angrily brandishing a sticky note. “You’ll never guess what those two idiots did!”

“Did they break the police code and possibly several laws because their way of doing things is clearly better than ours?” Chief Vick looks as though nothing can surprise her.

“In their defense, ransom demands are tricky,” Henry points out.

Gus takes the note from Lassiter and reads through it, which doesn’t take long- it’s two words and some letters.

_**DON’T FOLLOW.** _   
_J + S_

The chief mutters something about conflicts of interest. Henry groans and Maddie leans against the wall, letting her eyes close. Lassiter stalks towards his desk. “All due respect to my dumbass partner, but I am going to follow them. Where the hell did they go!?”

Gus gulps. “I think I might know where.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shawn and Jules have gone rogue. The kidnappers won't know what hit them.
> 
> (it's legit just two parents with some guns against several heavily armed men this is the stupidest fucking idea they've ever had)


	4. Actions of Questionable Legality

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shawn and Juliet have found their kids. Now, all they have to do is get them home safely.

_Several years previously_   
_Shawn chases his daughter down the beach. The sun is setting, and it’s time to go home. Jules is wrangling the twins while Gus, Lassie, and Jake pack up their beach gear. The only one not complying is Zoe._

_”Zo, honey, it’s time to go home,” Shawn tries. All he gets is more shrieking giggles as she runs faster._

_”Spencer, can you not even outrun a nine year old?” Lassie calls skeptically._

_”I don’t see you helping, Lassie!”_

_Zoe is very much like Shawn, and her downfall comes when she turns around to grin at her father, still several strides behind her. She trips over a half-washed-away sandcastle, and Shawn catches her right before she hits the ground. He swings her in a circle and then holds her close. “I got you,” he says. She giggles._

_”You always get me, Daddy.”_

_He tickles her ribs. “You know that’s right.”_

Present Day

Leo is pressed up against his sister and half in his twin brother’s lap. Jake is on the other side of Zoe, and in the darkness, Leo has no way of knowing he’s there other than his regular breaths. In all ten years of his life, he’s never been this scared. He flinches every time he hears a noise, and whenever one of the men guarding them comes within five feet of him, it’s all he can do not to cry. He’d tried to joke and laugh, because when his dad gets scared or nervous, he’s always able to laugh it off. But Leo can’t laugh it off any longer.

“Rory?”

The reply is whispered for fear of drawing attention. “Yeah?”

“Are you scared?”

“....I’m really scared.”

The next voice belongs to Jake. “It’s okay, guys. Mom and Dad are gonna come get us. You know they will.”

The biggest man of the group leers at them, coming closer. “You think your parents are gonna save you?” he sneers. “Please. This ain’t my first rodeo. They go crying to the police, the police tell ‘em not to pay, they pay up anyway, and that’s it for you.”

Leo frowns. Something’s off about that statement. “But-” He’s silenced by a swift elbow from Zoe. “Ow!” He turns to scowl at her but notices something unspoken in her gaze. _Oh. If they don’t know Mom is a cop, we shouldn’t tell them._ He quiets and nestles back into Zoe, who curls around him as best she can.

Eventually, the men grow bored of kicking Leo around and punching Jake and making small slashes on Zoe and Rory. They go back to lounging a bit away, and the basement (at least, Leo assumes it’s a basement) quiets down. Not long after that, Leo thinks he sees a glimmer of light from the darkness across from them. He squints. _What is that? Is it an optical illusion?_ Before he can figure it out, there’s a loud noise from above them. After several more crashes, most of the men leave, leaving only three guarding them.

“Do you see that?” Knife Guy mutters to his friends. His accent gives his voice a hissing quality.

“I dunno what it is,” mutters one. “Should we check it out?”

There’s more whispering and even a game of rock-paper-scissors, but eventually, two split off. Knife Guy pulls out two long knives and holds one to Zoe’s throat and the other to Leo’s. Leo tries not to move, but he’s shivering with fear.

After a few moments of waiting, two gunshots ring through the basement.

:::::::::::::::

“Guster, all you’ve given us is a street name,” Lassiter growls. “That entire street is warehouses!”

“I’m sorry I’m not the one with an eidetic memory,” Gus snaps. “I’m doing my best, Lassie. You know I forget when I’m scared!”

“You’re doing great, Gus,” Henry assures him. “Karen, have your techs traced their phones yet?”

Karen nods, reading through the reports in question. After a few seconds, she sets them down, looking unamused. Without a word, the chief paces over to Juliet’s desk and holds up both cell phones. “Lassiter, your observational skills astound me.”

At first, nobody says anything, waiting out of habit for Shawn to jump in with a quip. When they remember the situation, frowns ripple across the room before they move back into action. “Chief,” says Lassiter, “it’s your call, but I say we head for that street and find someplace that looks suspicious.”

Maddie raises an eyebrow. “All warehouses look suspicious after dark,” she points out. Gus nods in agreement.

Karen sighs, her lips pressing together. “Right now, time is of the essence, and I can’t say I’ve got any better ideas. Let’s go.”

All five of them stand.

Lassiter furrows his brow. “Dr. Spencer, I don’t think…”

Henry and Maddie both turn to face him. “You don’t think what, Lassie?” asks Henry.

“Don’t call me that.”

Maddie turns to Karen. “You can’t honestly expect me to just sit here-”

“This is non-negotiable, Madeline. I’ve already got a rogue detective out there. At this point, I’m just trying to get your grandchildren back safely with minimal collateral damage.”

Maddie sighs. Lassiter wonders if she, too, has the Spencer gene for disobeying orders. But soon enough, she paces off to the chief’s office, albeit reluctantly. Karen nods and starts issuing orders.

“Spencer, Guster, when we get there, you’re both staying in the car. Lassiter, you need to assemble a team for entering the warehouse, but we can’t be too noisy. I’m going to alert all current patrol officers. Everyone understand?” There are murmurs of assent. She nods once. “Good. Get moving.”

:::::::::::::::

Juliet waits five minutes after Shawn heads in before entering the warehouse herself. She knows she’s got to get to the basement level, and she can see one area where the dust is blown away; it’s seen a lot of foot traffic. Her first instinct is to head for that, but she closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.

_You can’t think like a mother right now. You’ve got to think like a cop. Find that second entrance and surprise whoever’s down there. That’s the safest way to get your kids._

Carefully, Juliet heads for a corner. Sure enough, there’s a trap door that she pulls open. She hits the ground and clicks on her flashlight, swinging it around a bit to get her bearings. She doesn’t particularly care if anyone notices- in fact, she’d rather deal with attackers now than closer to her kids. Still, she heads toward what she assumes to be the center of the basement level.

As she’d expected, the detective runs into two men within minutes of arriving in the basement. She flashes her light over them, to blind them and size them up. They’re both twice her size and carrying guns, but caught off guard by the flashlight. She could take them out with hits to some pressure points.

She could, if they weren’t scum of the earth who kidnapped children just for money. If they hadn’t taken _her children_ away from her.

It takes two bullets to send them both to the ground. She doesn’t look back. She moves in the direction they’d come from and, in no time at all, her light sweeps over four familiar faces. She almost collapses with relief, but it’s not over yet. Behind her children, holding two knives to two of their throats, is a tall, sneering man. She aims her gun at his skull. His leer grows.

“All of you, close your eyes,” she tells her kids. Her voice echoes in the basement. “You’re gonna be okay, I just need you to close your eyes until I say open.”

Juliet waits for their eyes to flutter closed, then levels her gun with the man’s forehead. Her hands are steady as she pulls the trigger. Knives clatter to the floor as he crumples, just like his friends had.

Her breath is shaky as she holsters her weapon and runs to her children. “Hey. Hey, you’re gonna be okay.” She runs her hands over them, checking for wounds and making sure all of them are there. She presses her forehead to Rory’s. “You’re all gonna be okay.”

To Juliet’s dismay, they’re bound with duct tape. She grabs her knife and begins to cut Zoe free. “This is going to hurt. I’m sorry.” Her voice breaks as she tugs off the tape. “I’m so sorry.”

Zoe all but collapses once she’s free. “It’s okay, Mama,” she whispers, her voice hoarse from screaming and growling. Juliet swallows hard, kisses the top of her head, and begins to cut Leo free.

Zoe manages to help Jake while Juliet frees the twins. Once they’re all unbound, she holds them close and presses kisses to their heads. Jake is taller than her and Leo can barely move with his bruised ribs but they all hold each other as tight as they can. “I’m so sorry,” Juliet whispers. She tries to hold back her tears, but they fall regardless. When Rory sees her crying, he buries his face in her chest and begins to sob quietly. The sound makes her heart hurt. “I’ve got you. You’re safe now. I promise you’re safe.”

:::::::::::::::::

Shawn makes it through five huge guys with only a probably-broken wrist, so he counts it a success. _I should probably tell Gus I stole the sedatives from his sample case so he doesn’t freak out._

It doesn’t take long to find a trapdoor, but Shawn doesn’t have a flashlight. He stumbles through the darkness, trips over a dead body, ascertains that it isn’t his wife, and keeps going. He thinks he stops breathing when he hears the sound of sobs. “Zo? Jules? Rory?”

There’s a noise of metal on concrete and a flashlight flicks on. Juliet is sitting on the ground, all of their children clinging to her. Shawn’s knees nearly buckle with relief. “You’re all here. Thank god.” He joins the group hug. “Who’s hurt?”

“My chest hurts,” Rory whimpers.

“I got a black eye,” Jake adds.

“The guy with the knives sliced me up a bit. It’s- it’s mostly shallow cuts.” Zoe’s voice shakes.

“One of them... tried to choke me,” murmurs Leo.

Shawn hugs his kids and rubs their backs gently. He presses against Jules, trying to telepathically remind her that it isn’t her fault. Finally, he takes a deep breath. “Jules, do you have more guns? I have to go.”

“What? Go where?”

“Uh… I don’t think demo samples of sedatives are enough to knock out five large men.”

Juliet swears, immediately followed by the words, “don’t say that.” He can see her chewing her lip. “Okay…” She lifts Rory in her arms, then surveys the rest of them. “Can you three walk?” Zoe, Jake, and Leo all nod. “Alright. Shawn, hold Rory. We’re gonna get the kids somewhere safe on the upper floor and then you’re gonna keep them there and I’ll deal with the kidnappers.”

“Jules…” Shawn looks nervous as he lifts the ten-year-old into a piggyback position. “Jules, I don’t like this.”

“Neither do I.”

“What are you gonna do with five men twice your size?”

She sighs and draws her weapon. Whatever it is, it’s something she’s not comfortable discussing in front of the kids. This does not make Shawn feel better.

::::::::::::::::::::

Lassiter has been told multiple times to wait for the patrol to finish canvassing the warehouse before he goes in, but the chief’s back is turning. And besides, there’s no reason he can’t help the patrol out. If that means charging into an area the patrol hasn’t reached yet armed with a kevlar vest, two pistols, and nothing else, then so be it.

The scene in the warehouse makes him gape and freeze for a few seconds, just to process it.

He thinks he can see Spencer and his kids behind a stack of crates across the room. He’ll tell the patrol to get them out.

There’s one man lying dead in a pool of blood. Three shots to the chest, probably from a standard-issue handgun.

Detective Juliet Spencer, currently fighting off four hulking men with her bare hands. Well, she’s still got her gun, but either she’s too close to use it or she’s out of bullets. One of the men fighting her is bleeding from a gunshot to the bicep, but he doesn’t seem perturbed. 

Lassiter sees one man knock his partner roughly to the ground and takes that as his cue. He shoots one man in the knee and pistol whips another before dragging a third off Juliet. She stands, fists at the ready. “Got any ammo?”

He hands her one of his guns, but the men are too close. They end up each fighting one, and nobody is playing fair. He thinks he sees Juliet knee her opponent in the groin before he himself is being strangled by his. He manages to get free using his elbows, and lands a satisfying punch that sends the guy to the floor. By the time the patrol shows up, Lassiter and Juliet are standing there, bruised but alive, surrounded by five bodies ranging from dead to temporarily incapacitated.

“I told you not to follow me,” she mutters.

“It’s a good thing I did. Taking on five men by yourself is an idea of Spencer-level stupidity.”

“Then I guess I live up to the name.”

“Um, I don’t think the chief is going to be happy that you disobeyed her orders,” McNab ventures, approaching them warily.

Juliet shakes her hair out of her face and heads for her family, who are emerging from behind the crates. “She’s just gonna have to deal with that.”

Lassiter’s brow furrows. For one thing, he’d assumed McNab was addressing him, and for another, it’s not like Juliet to be so flippant.

_She just needs time. Hell, she’s probably going into shock. They all need a hospital._

“I’ll talk to her, McNab. Call the Spencers an ambulance.”

McNab nods, and the patrol leaves. Lasister cautiously approaches Juliet, Shawn, and the four Spencer children. “Hey, guys. Let’s get out of here.”

There are tired noises of agreement from all. They slowly head for the exit.


	5. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All is not well in the Spencer household.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, this story was gonna be longer, but I realized I didn't have enough of an idea of where I was heading to be comfortable with drawing it out. Instead, have some hurt/comfort and lots of cuddles.

_Years Earlier_

_Shawn wakes suddenly to a lanky child with very sharp elbows flopping onto him. Once he regains the ability to breathe, he chuckles and wraps Jake in a bear hug. “Hooray for Saturday, huh?”_

_Over Jake’s head, Shawn grins at his wife. Juliet has Rory and Zoe in her arms, while Leo is in the middle of the bed. “Jules, what’s better- waking up like this, or sleeping in?”_

Juliet wriggles until she’s close enough to give him a peck on the lips. “This, definitely.”

_”Mom, can we go to the pier today? I wanna feed the seagulls,” Zoe says._

_Juliet laughs. “I don’t think you have to try very hard to feed seagulls. I once say one snatch an ice cream one right out of Gus’ hand.”_

_”Can we have ice cream!?” Leo, who had been on the verge of falling back asleep, sits bolt upright at the mention of his favorite food. “I love ice cream!”_

_Shawn laughs. “Not before breakfast. But maybe after.”_

_As the clock strikes seven, the Spencer children all erupt into cheers._

Present Day

Shawn lies awake in bed, staring at the ceiling. They’d finally gotten the kids to sleep, although he knew they’d be dealing with nightmares soon. They hadn’t even tried to get everyone into their own beds- he knows that’s as much because he and Jules need them close as it is the other way around. So now, all six of them are in Shawn and Juliet’s bed, with Jake wrapped around Shawn, Zoe and Rory clinging to Jules, and Leo in the middle.

Zoe had fallen asleep first, but it had taken soft lullabies and back rubs to get the twins to sleep. Jake had outlasted even Juliet, who was so exhausted from fighting that she’d barely had the energy to press kisses to each child’s head before succumbing to slumber. That had left Shawn to hold Jake close and promise him that he was safe now, that it was okay to sleep. He hated every minute of it, because he knew how it felt.

He still remembers how he hadn’t slept for a week after he’d been kidnapped, too afraid that he’d wake up back in the abandoned gas station. The fear had all but consumed him, and he had been a grown man. Something in his chest seizes up at the thought of his kids going through that.

_It’s your fault,_ says the voice in his head. _You should’ve found them sooner. Everything they went through happened because you were a little too late on the uptake and couldn’t save them in time._ Logically, Shawn knows this is wrong. But it’s the middle of the night and it’s too silent and he can’t reach Jules to comfort himself with her presence. He needs to get out of there.

_You didn’t even help rescue them. You pissed off a couple of guys with guns while your wife did all the work. All four of them would be dead if not for Juliet. Some father you are._

Shawn gasps for breath and stumbles out onto the small deck accessible from the hall. He can feel himself crumbling, feel the weight of his near-failures begin to crush him. _I almost couldn’t save them. God, they almost died. They almost died, and I almost could save them._

He hears floorboards creaking and manages to pull himself upright as the door slides open. “Shawn,” Juliet whispers. Just the sound of her voice makes the cloud of panic start to dissipate. He stares into her eyes as she cups his cheek, trying to breathe normally.

“I almost couldn’t save them,” he whispers. _”You_ saved them. Thank you.”

She steps closer, threading a hand through his hair. “It was both of us, Shawn. I needed your help in there, and you didn’t disappoint.”

He wraps his arms around her, pulling her into his chest. “All I did was distract some guys and hide behind a crate. God, if one thing had gone wrong, I’m not sure we would’ve made it out of there.”

“But we did, Shawn. And I think that’s the important part.”

He holds her close for a few seconds longer, but they’re interrupted by cries from the bedroom. Juliet is sprinting down the hall before Shawn can blink- or realize that he’s doing the same.

Rory is sitting up in bed, tears streaming down his face. He can’t even speak, so Shawn climbs onto the bed and rubs his back as Juliet holds him in her lap. “Mama,” he whimpers through the tears, “Mama, I don’t wanna go back to sleep.”

Zoe and Jake and Leo are starting to stir; Shawn focuses on calming them before they fully wake up. Juliet tugs at the blankets until she and Rory, both still sitting, are covered. 

“You don’t have to go to sleep,” she tells him, “but at least stay here and rest. I’ll keep you safe.” Her voice breaks on the last word.

Rory only buries himself deeper into her chest. “But what if I wake up and you’re not here again?”

Shawn winces to himself, realizing that Jules following him to the deck means that Rory had once more woken up in a dark room without his parents. “Rory, bud, your mom was helping me, because I….” he really doesn’t want to explain what a panic attack is to his son. “I had a nightmare, too. But I’m alright now, and we’re both gonna stay here. Nothing bad is going to happen to you.” _Can I even promise that, now?_

Shawn shakes himself, scooting up the bed until he’s next to Jules and Rory. Leo, still asleep, lays his head on Shawn’s lap. “I love you,” he murmurs, kissing Jules on the cheek, and then Rory on the head. “I love all of you so much.”

“Love you, Dad,” Rory mumbles, his eyelids drooping.

Juliet says nothing, but shifts so she’s leaning into Shawn’s chest. He’s glad for the body heat, for the reminder that he’s not alone.

“Jules?”

“Yeah?”

“We’re all gonna be okay, right? The kids will recover from this? We’ll make it through together?”

“We will, Shawn. Together.”

He holds her close and pulls Leo further onto his lap and reaches out to find Zoe and Jake. _Together._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! It's always a good feeling to get a fic done and I hope it feels as good to y'all to finish reading it. (Ignoring the fact that I probably tore your hearts out). As always, comments and kudos are appreciated!


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